Advertising

Ivory Soap Ad

Advertising is meant to persuade, and the themes and techniques of that persuasion reveal a part of the nation's history. The Museum has preserved advertising campaigns for several familiar companies, such as Marlboro, Alka-Seltzer, Federal Express, Cover Girl, and Nike. It also holds the records of the NW Ayer Advertising Agency and business papers from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Carvel Ice Cream, and other companies. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana comprises thousands of trade cards, catalogs, labels, and other business papers and images dating back to the late 1700s.

Beyond advertising campaigns, the collections encompass thousands of examples of packaging, catalogs, and other literature from many crafts and trades, from engineering to hat making. The collections also contain an eclectic array of advertising objects, such as wooden cigar-store Indians, neon signs, and political campaign ads.

Date: 1900s

Schuttler Wagon Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and tokens.
Obverse: Image of a wagon. Legend: HERMAN HAAS, CHEYENNE, WYO. TER./ DEALER IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLMENTS/ AGT. FOR THE SCHUTTLER WAGON
Reverse: Image of a factory. Legend: THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS OF THE WEST/ ESTABLISHED 1843/ PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1629
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1629

opener, letter

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
ID Number
DL.59.1369R
catalog number
59.1369R
accession number
111627

Open Work Net Banners

A broadside advertising banners in support of Democratic nominees William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson.Currently not on view
Description
A broadside advertising banners in support of Democratic nominees William Jennings Bryan and Adlai Stevenson.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900
depicted (sitter)
Bryan, William Jennings
Stevenson, Adlai
ID Number
2010.0073.01
catalog number
2010.0073.01
accession number
2010.0073
catalog number
2010.0073.01

Where Life is a Happy Glide

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
2017.0037.0052
accession number
2017.0037
catalog number
2017.0037.0052

Trade Cards Scrapbook

Trade cards were a popular advertising device in the mid-to-late 19th century, featuring a colorful illustration on one side with advertising copy on the other. The cards were widely distributed for an array of consumer products including proprietary (patent) medicines.
Description
Trade cards were a popular advertising device in the mid-to-late 19th century, featuring a colorful illustration on one side with advertising copy on the other. The cards were widely distributed for an array of consumer products including proprietary (patent) medicines. People enjoyed collecting and scrap-booking the colorful cards which often feautured flowers, animals, children, women, or humerous scenes.
This trade card scrapbook belonged to Franklin T. Buzby (1852 - 1910), a pharmacist in South Bend, Indianna. Among the cards collected here are advertisements for Vroom & Fowlers Shaving Soap, Atmore's Mince Meat, Reynold's Bros. Fine Shoes, and Hoyt's German Cologne.
Location
Currently not on view (Box in 5026 UNIT04/02)
Currently not on view (paper fragments; sewing thread)
date made
ca 1870s-1900
maker
Buzby, Franklin T.
ID Number
MG.258917.02
catalog number
M-11162
258917.02
accession number
258917

Barthelmes Shop Sign

This is a one-sided shop sign made of painted wood and designed to look like a pocket watch. Barthelmes Watchmakers were active during the mid-19th century in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
Description
This is a one-sided shop sign made of painted wood and designed to look like a pocket watch. Barthelmes Watchmakers were active during the mid-19th century in Marlborough, Massachusetts.
date made
1830 - 1870
mid 19th century
ID Number
ME.388196
accession number
182022
catalog number
388196

List of Prices of Tin Ware

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
early 19th century
ID Number
DL.71.0031
catalog number
71.0031
accession number
292235

Pioneer Wagon Works Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce various consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and tokens.
Obverse: Wagon. Legend: MFR. OF FARM, FREIGHT, & SPRING WAGONS/ FIRST PREMIUM PARIS 1867 PHILADELPHIA 1876/ GEO. A. LOWE. AGT. SALT LAKE CITY.
Reverse: Image of a factory. Legend: THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS OF THE WEST/ ESTABLISHED 1843/ PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1626
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1626

Schuttler Wagon Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, coins, and tokens.
Obverse: Image of a wagon. Legend: C.H. DODD & CO. PORTLAND OR./DEALERS IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS/ AGT. FOR THE SCHUTTLER WAGON.
Reverse: Image of a factory. Legend: THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS OF THE WEST/ ESTABLISHED 1843/ PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1635
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1635

Shop Figure of a Hunter

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1850 - 1900
ID Number
CL.65.0033
catalog number
65.0033
accession number
258075

Schuttler Wagon Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and tokens.
Obverse: Image of a factory. Legend: THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS OF THE WEST/ ESTABLISHED 1843/ PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO.
Reverse: Image of a wagon. Legend: MFR. OF FARM, FREIGHT, & SPRING WAGONS/ FIRST PREMIUM PARIS 1867 PHILADELPHIA 1876/ SMITH&KEATING, ACTS. KANSAS CITY Mo.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1618
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1618

Stamp holder

Notebook with celluloid cover and wax pages. The front cover features an image of two birds perched atop a U.S. mailbox.
Description (Brief)
Notebook with celluloid cover and wax pages. The front cover features an image of two birds perched atop a U.S. mailbox. On the back, black print in cursive script reads "Compliments of Blake & Johnson, Waterbury, Conn." A calendar for 1904 occupies the first few pages.
Blake & Johnson Co. was founded in 1852 and produced machinery for working metals to be used to by manufacturers of jewelry, plated goods, silver goods, and flat wire.
Source: The Town and City of Waterbury, Connecticut Volume 2 by Sarah Johnson Prichard and Anna Lydia Ward. Published by the Price and Lee Company, 1896.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.1239
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.1239

Deacon Crankett

This colored print depicts a table with the words "Things that the Deacon swears by" printed on the side of a red tablecloth. The objects on the table include a Bible, a pitcher labeled "Cold Water," and a straw hat. A chair is drawn up to the table.
Description
This colored print depicts a table with the words "Things that the Deacon swears by" printed on the side of a red tablecloth. The objects on the table include a Bible, a pitcher labeled "Cold Water," and a straw hat. A chair is drawn up to the table. In addition to the title “Deacon Crankett by John Habberton,” the poster contains the additional words “Author of Helen’s Babies” at the top. Across the bottom is a daybill or label containing the date and location of the performance. This one proclaims “Park Theatre / Two Nights Only / Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 1 & 2.”
The Park Theater was built in 1798 on Park Row in Manhattan and was New York City’s premiere performance space in the early 19th Century. It attracted a diverse audience with various groups of people sitting in distinct sections of the theater. Working class men sat in the pit; members of the upper class and women in the boxes; and the least affluent sat or stood in the balcony. This included immigrants, people of color, and prostitutes.
Deacon Crankett was a successful play described as both a “domestic drama” and “comic amusement.” The reviews in the New York Times mentioned it was a simplistic presentation “of weak morality and absurd situations.” The original name of the play was Joe Thatcher’s Revenge and Joe, the main character was first played at Haverly’s Fourteenth Steet Theater in the fall of 1880 by James O’Neill with Harry Lee as the understudy. It supposedly was performed over 500 times between 1880-1892.
The play was the creation of by American dramatist, novelist, and literary critic John Habberton (1842-1921). Habberton was born in New York and grew up in Illinois. After serving in the Civil War, he worked for the publisher Harper & Brothers. He later became the literary editor of the Christian Union and then a literary critic for the New York Herald. He was best known for his 1876 novel Helen's Babies, which was part of the Ruby Books series for boys and girls. The book's comic account of a bachelor salesman babysitting two small children was popular with readers of all ages, including Rudyard Kipling. A silent film version of Helen's Babies was released in 1924. John Habberton also wrote a series of stories about early California life, many of which were collected in his 1880 book, Romance of California Life: Illustrated by Pacific Slope Stories, Thrilling, Pathetic and Humorous.
There is no information available about the producer of this lithograph.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
n.d.
date made
1880-1900
maker
unknown
ID Number
DL.60.3026
catalog number
60.3026
accession number
228146

Schuttler Wagon Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, coins, and tokens.
Obverse: Image of a large factory. Legend: THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS OF THE WEST/ ESTABLISHED 1843/ PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO.
Reverse: Image of a wagon. Legend: JOHN J. MAXEY. DENVER , COL./DEALER IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS/AGT. FOR THE SHUTTLER WAGON.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1620
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1620

Yale and Holmes

Two sheets of celluloid fastened together over three rotating discs that display numbers.
Description (Brief)
Two sheets of celluloid fastened together over three rotating discs that display numbers. One disc displays in a window marked "Points," one in "Games" and the other in "Trumps." There is advertising on one side, and the other is printed with an image of a monkey with windows in its eyes and mouth. As the wheels turn, different styles of eyes and mouth appear on the monkey's face.
This advertising piece for Yale and Holmes Union Suits of Malden, Mass., features an image of a man wearing long underwear.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1905
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0644
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0644

"Chic" Helps and Hints (Chichester's English Pennyroyal Pills)

Promotional booklet with celluloid cover. Red, green, and black print on front. Color image of a woman's face and purple flowers. Black, red, and blue print on back cover. Image of a box of Pennyroyal Pills.
Description (Brief)
Promotional booklet with celluloid cover. Red, green, and black print on front. Color image of a woman's face and purple flowers. Black, red, and blue print on back cover. Image of a box of Pennyroyal Pills. Interior contents include calendars for the years 1904-1907; advertisements for Chichester products; beauty and health hints; legal maxims; states' nicknames; and more.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904
advertiser
Chichester Chemical Co.
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0504
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0504

Practical Lace Making Booklet; Torchon Lace Co.; ca. 1904

Practical Lace Making (Illustrated). Torchon Lace Company, Saint Louis, Missouri. Copyrighted 1904. All rights reserved. Fifth Edition. Price Ten cents. Booklet with history of lace making, translated with some errors from Sara Rasmussen KNIPLING from 1884.
Description
Practical Lace Making (Illustrated). Torchon Lace Company, Saint Louis, Missouri. Copyrighted 1904. All rights reserved. Fifth Edition. Price Ten cents. Booklet with history of lace making, translated with some errors from Sara Rasmussen KNIPLING from 1884. Also the history of the Torchon Lace Company and images of laces that can be made on the Princess Lace Loom (2016.0048.01). Most of these images are direct copies from Rasmussen, KNIPLING, including the "fig." number. Dark burgundy "alligator" skin textured thin cardboard with gold embossed script on front and back covers. 32 pages
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1904
copyright date
1904
Author
Lewis, Sylvester G.
maker
Torchon Lace Company
ID Number
2016.0048.04
catalog number
2016.0048.04
accession number
2016.0048

The Berg Company

A promotional notebook with a celluloid cover. Distributed by retailer John M. Crouse of Finesville, N.J., it advertises products of the Berg Company of Philadelphia, Pa.
Description (Brief)
A promotional notebook with a celluloid cover. Distributed by retailer John M. Crouse of Finesville, N.J., it advertises products of the Berg Company of Philadelphia, Pa. The pages contain calendars, blank memo pages, and a wide range of information on Berg's products.
The front shows the image of a man wearing a sandwich board advertising "Berg's Pure Ingredient Guanos and Bone Manures."
The advertisment contains a picture of a bull with the caption, "From the farm thou art, Unto the farm thou shalt return." It is a play on the biblical verse, Genesis 3:19: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1906
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0911
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0911

The Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company

Notebook advertising piece for the Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The notebook's plastic cover has black print on front and back.
Description (Brief)
Notebook advertising piece for the Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The notebook's plastic cover has black print on front and back. On the front is the trademark image of a griffin, and describes the products as "Old Style Lager Beer // Protiwiner Export & Lager Beer." Reverse shows as image of a factory. Inside is a history of the company, a poison antidote list, calendars for 1905-1907, various other facts and miscellania, and many blank, lined paper pages.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1905
advertiser
Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0756
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0756

Schuttler Wagon Advertising Token

The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut produced this advertising token during the second half of the 19th century. Scovill was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce various consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, and tokens.
Obverse: Image of a wagon. Legend: MFR. OF FARM, FREIGHT, & SPRING WAGONS/ FIRST PREMIUM PARIS 1867 PHILADELPHIA 1876/ THOS C. CARSON ACT. IOWA CITY IA.
Reverse: Image of a factory. Legend: THE PIONEER WAGON WORKS OF THE WEST/ ESTABLISHED 1843/ PETER SCHUTTLER CHICAGO.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 19th century
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1622
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1622

Drawing of Hall Mark Quirk Quality

This original artwork in pencil, ink, and wash was created for a printed piece advertising the services of Chicago wood engraver Nicholas J. Quirk about 1900.
Description
This original artwork in pencil, ink, and wash was created for a printed piece advertising the services of Chicago wood engraver Nicholas J. Quirk about 1900. The design, including a wood block, engraving tools, and a woodpecker as a symbol of the trade, was modified for use as a logo by the Brotherhood of Engravers in 1902.
The Quirk Collection represents a significant body of work by N. J. Quirk (1863–1940) and his son Nicholas Paul Quirk (1898–1983), together with numerous business cards and specimen sheets from their fellow wood engravers and printing concerns, mostly in the midwestern United States, but also from Canada and Japan. Engraved wood blocks, electrotype plates, photographs, original artwork, proofs, prints, brochures, catalogs and other examples of commercial illustration and wood engraving, plus associated reference material, are included. Subjects represented include portraits (including six Presidents, Joseph Conrad, and Charles Lindbergh), machinery, jewelry, maritime and military work, holiday offerings, and printing trade and union-related items. Most of the 454 catalogued items date from the 1880s up through the 1970s.
Evidence in the collection suggests that Nicholas J. Quirk worked as superintendent of the wood-engraving department of Henderson-Achert Lithography Company in Cincinnati and had his own business there as Quirk & Co., before moving to Chicago in the 1890s. He had his own business at several Chicago addresses and worked for the Globe Engraving and Electrotype Company and the Hawtin Engraving Company. Around 1900 he styled himself as a "marine illustrator." Nicholas Paul Quirk spent his entire working life in Chicago, first with his father and later at the Zacher Engraving Company, where wood engraver Judith Jaidinger Szesko also worked during the 1960s. Mrs Szesko donated the Quirk Collection to NMAH in 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1900
graphic artist
Quirk, Nicholas J.
ID Number
1996.0197.031
catalog number
1996.0197.031
accession number
1996.0197

John D. Robbins Advertising Token

This advertising badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut during the middle of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today.
Description (Brief)
This advertising badge was made by the Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut during the middle of the 19th century. The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer that is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, coins, and campaign medals. John Robbins was using the imagery and iconography of George Washington to advertise his store.
Obverse: Tintype photograph of George Washington.
Reverse: Text reads: JOHN D. ROBBINS, TOYS, Fancy Goods, and FIREWORKS, 37 John Street, N.Y.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
mid 19th century
depicted
Washington, George
maker
Scovill Manufacturing Company
ID Number
1981.0296.1173
accession number
1981.0296
catalog number
1981.0296.1173

Roller coaster

real photo postcard; group of people seated in a theater, photo taken from rear of theater showing backs of heads of movie patrons and screen; on screen is an image of a roller coaster, image from vantage point of first car on roller coaster; ""The biggest new entertainment event
Description (Brief)
real photo postcard; group of people seated in a theater, photo taken from rear of theater showing backs of heads of movie patrons and screen; on screen is an image of a roller coaster, image from vantage point of first car on roller coaster; ""The biggest new entertainment event of the year." - LIFE"; no postmark; Cinerama, Warner Theatre, Washington, DC; Ross Photo Services
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1950s
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.2398
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.2398

All Fat People Can be Cured by Taking Trilene Tablets

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901-01
publisher
Harmsworth, Alfred Charles William
ID Number
1992.3127.38
catalog number
1992.3127.38
nonaccession number
1992.3127

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